1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to virtual reality simulations, and more particularly to an immersive visualization center for creating and designing a “total design simulation” and for improved relationship management and market research.
2. Description of the Related Art
The manufacture and marketing of consumer products is highly competitive, and product manufacturers spend enormous sums of money on product and product packaging design. Traditionally, product design has been an iterative process where a manufacturer selects a particular design, constructs a prototype, and then tests the prototype to determine whether it has a set of desired functional characteristics. Often, the testing is done by consumers (or other relevant product users) in product trials or studies. One problem with this approach is that it involves long cycle times from idea to market, even for small or simple changes to a product design. For example, a typical consumer product research study may involve, after identifying a relevant test cohort, sending out products for use by the study participants, and subsequently bringing in the participants to discuss their experience with the product in a focus group, or contacting participants individually to obtain responses to detailed questionnaires.
In addition to being expensive and time consuming, these typical consumer research studies have numerous flaws. First, it is difficult, if not impossible to know in advance which questions need to be asked. Thus, the questionnaires tend to include a voluminous number of questions. Unfortunately, relevant details often get lost in the minutiae of this approach. Second, even when participants give what they believe to be an accurate response, people often interact with a product in ways they do not realize, making it difficult, if not impossible for an individual to convey some information about their experience with a product in a questionnaire or focus group. Thus, these approaches tend to focus on the functional aspects of a product (e.g., depending on the product, participants may relate observations of functional product performance such as “it worked,” “it didn't work,” “it leaked,” “it cleaned,” “it moisturized,” etc.). This focus on functional attributes, while important, fails to convey any emotional or visceral reactions a consumer has with a product.
Similarly, these approaches are unable to capture non-verbal information that can provide deeper insights into consumer and shopper reactions. For example, nonverbal information can include how a shopper handles a product (e.g., how it is picked up, what portions of the package draw the attention of the eyes, how the product is handled, what parts of the packaging are covered when it is picked up, where the eyes focus, what is read and not read, how the product is opened or used, and how the consumer reacts physiologically, etc.)
Another approach to conducting product design and market research is to use virtual reality simulations, and virtual reality tools have been developed to assist in visualizing real spaces. For example, virtual shopping tools are available to simulate consumer activity and to conduct market research based on consumer interaction with a computer simulation of a shopping (or other relevant) environment. However, the virtual reality applications developed or published to date have tended to focus on consumer purchase decisions. For example, several computer-assisted simulation and virtual reality tools have been developed to represent shopping experiences simulating products on shelves of a retail store. Such a simulation may be configured to allow a participant to select a product, and the focus of market research has been on factors that may influence a consumer's (or other relevant product chooser) product selection decisions.
If the simulations are effective at capturing aspects of product design that may influence consumer purchasing decisions and product performance, then the simulations may provide a product manufacturer with a powerful tool for designing products and product packaging, as well as for demonstrating to retailers (or other customers) how design choices may be optimized to increase sales of a given product, or how a given product design choice may benefit the customer. Unfortunately, however, virtual reality simulations created using the methodology described above, and the research data obtained therefrom, have not provided the desired results. Further, it is often difficult to validate product design choices using only data obtained through a virtual reality simulations.
As the foregoing illustrates, to improve the design and optimization of products as well as marketing approaches, there remains a need for improved techniques of conducting market research and product design, and more specifically, for an immersive visualization center for creating and designing a “total design simulation” and for improved relationship management and market research.